Report of Committee of Necrology
The submission of this report probably closes my official connection with this association. Chairmanship of this committee has become to me like a graveyard, looking the inevitable squarely in the face. So far as personal recollections go, Felter and I have been the only ones to head this committee. It is not a delightful pastime to gather these statistics and especially so when one sees one's associates and even former students pass one by one "beyond the Divide." One must of necessity grow old and lose out in the struggles of life, but one does not fancy being constantly looking that fact squarely in the face. It is hard to grow old gracefully, especially when one seems to be possessed of all his faculties.
(113 recently deceased N.E.M.A. members list omitted)
We have records of 113 deaths during the year. The average age was 66.4 plus. There were three aged respectively 98, 95, and 90 years.
There were 13 between 80 and 85, 5 between 85 and 90, 13 between 75 and 80, 14 between 70 and 75, 15 between 65 and 70, 13 between 60 and 65, 14 between 55 and 60, 9 between 50 and 55, 4 between 45 and 50, 2 between 40 and 45, 1, 39 and 1, 30.
The average age is somewhat higher than is that for the medical profession as a whole. It is easily accounted for by reason of the advance age of our men. No recent graduates.
The states represented and numbers in each follow. It is a wide distribution, as Arkansas reports 2 deaths, California 13, Colorado 2, Florida 5, Georgia 7, Idaho 1, Illinois 16, Indiana 8, Iowa 4, Kansas 5, -Kentucky 2, Michigan 3, Minnesota 3, Missouri 5, Nebraska 2, New Jersey 1, New York 5, North Carolina 1, Ohio 9, Oklahoma 2, Pennsylvania 1, Texas 5, West Virginia 5, Wisconsin 2, and one each in Ontario and Porto Rico.
The colleges represented among the deceased and the number credited to each are about as follows: Chicago 27, Cincinnati 35, The American Eclectic of Cincinnati 4, Georgia 12, Kansas City 9, New York 7, St. Louis 12, and I find 2 credited to Indianapolis and 1 to Philadelphia, he being 98 years old and a native of Ontario.
